AAML Alphabet Challenge
by anjumstar
Summary: The classic alphabet challenge, a oneshot for a randomly generated word corresponding to every letter of the alphabet, each with a delicious serving of AAML, undoubtedly with a smattering of DAML on the side. Requests welcome!
1. Addiction

Summary: The everyday alphabet challenge Pokéshipping style! Featuring words chosen by a random word generator.

Pairing: Pokéshipping; Ash/Misty and inevitably Contestshipping; Drew/May (Other pairings are fair game and feel free to request them)

Spoilers: None, I don't think.

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I affiliated in any way with the Pokémon franchise. This story is merely for entertainment.

* * *

**Addiction**

Misty had dragged him kicking and screaming all the way there. For years she had teased him, saying one of these days he was going to do something crazy and she was going to force him to go to one of those meetings.

Misty was nothing if not true to her word.

Today, Ash found himself sitting in an uncomfortable plastic seat, the kind that he hadn't had to deal with since grade school. This one was missing the foot off of one of the corners, so Ash spent his time rocking from side to side while looking around room, subtly eyeing all the others seated in the circle in the room. Most people were watching the person currently speaking and giving looks of support as he opened up about his life. Everyone looked at ease and not one bit as anxious as Ash felt.

Ash was dreading his turn. He hated talking about feelings with people and he honestly had no idea what to say. He didn't feel like he had a problem. He was only here because Misty had forced him. Wasn't there a rule or something that said that people could only be at these things of their own free will? As Ash pondered that question, it finally came to be his turn, and with all eyes on him, and an elbow to the ribs by Misty, Ash stood up.

"Hello, my name is Ash," Ash mumbled into his shirt as he avoided eye contact with all others in the room.

Resounding back to him was a dull chorus of, "Hi, Ash."

His mouth was dry. As much as he loved being the center of attention, Ash had never been good at the public speaking. He usually ended up saying something dumb that Misty would then make fun of him for later. So he said the only thing that he could think to say: "and I'm addicted to Pokémon Battling."

Through the pounding sound of blood rushing to the tips of his ears, Ash heard man asked if he had anything to share with the group. Seeing Ash's hesitation, Misty reached out to grab his hand and soothingly rubbed circles into the back of it. She gave him an encouraging look, urging him on.

His mouth opened and a breath of air came out with a small creak of his vocal folds, but no words. He didn't have anything to say. "Er, pass," Ash said, quickly, pointedly ignoring Misty's sudden frown.

Misty visibly deflated as Ash collapsed back down next to her. When the next person stood up to talk, Misty snatched her hand away from Ash and crossed her arms in front of her, throwing a glare his direction.

* * *

"You know," Ash began pleasantly as they began walking back to the car, "I think that you were right. That meeting really wasn't so bad and now that I've went through it, I feel like I've really grown as a person and don't need to ever go again."

Misty threw Ash a less-than-amused look. "Grown as a person, my ass," she mumbled bitterly.

Ash decided to overlook her bitterness and kept on smiling good-naturedly. "Aw, Mist, it's not like you really believe that an addiction to Battling is a real thing, do you?"

Misty turned sharply to look at him. "Ash, you battled to the point where Pikachu could hardly breathe! We had to spend the whole day in the Pokémon Center, remember? Clearly you have a problem, and since Brock and I both already talked to you, I couldn't think of any other solution besides to get peer pressure to get you to shape up."

From its perch on Ash's shoulder, Pikachu gave a small "Cha" of affirmation.

At that point, they had reached the car and Misty and Ash were standing on their respective sides of the sedan. Misty looked at him over the top and raised her eyebrows and widened her eyes as she glanced between the boy and the electric mouse as if to say, "See? Even the Pokémon agrees," before opening the door and plopping herself down in the passenger seat, taking Pikachu in her lap. Immediately, the car felt stuffy with tension, so as soon as Ash started the engine, he rolled down the windows. As the car started moving, Pikachu scooted closer to the window, ear's perking up excitedly and nose twitching at the interesting scents hitting it.

It really was a nice day. The air was warm, and the breeze passing through the open windows felt very inviting and refreshing. Ash did his best to focus on that and the road ahead of him, appreciating the soothing silence as he ignored the seething redhead beside him.

The silence, of course, wouldn't last.

"I know that you care about your Pokémon more than anything, but it's really starting to seem like you just can't control yourself. You're Pokémon are too stubborn to stop Battling and you get too carried away with the match to see that they're hurting. One of these days you're really going to hurt them or someone else's Pokémon."

Ash rolled his eyes and opened his mouth as if to speak, but Misty cut him off, continuing her spiel. "That's why I made you go to the meeting. But you obviously didn't make any progress in there," she said wryly.

Ash gave a small chuckle. "Oh, come on, Mist. Did you really think that an AA meeting was the best place for me to recover from a 'Battling addiction'?" he asked, taking one hand off the wheel in order to make quotation marks, emphasizing his point.

Misty sighed again and contented herself with petting Pikachu for the rest of the trip, only speaking again to whisper under her breath, "I just don't know what else to do."

* * *

The next day, Ash came home from a hard day of Training to be greeted by the overwhelming scent of chocolate, sugar and flour. The entire house smelled of it and Ash inhaled deeply, reveling in the mouth-watering aroma. It was very rare that there was a scent of food in the house that didn't make Ash want to hurl, so he made sure to fully drink in each inhale, breathing to the point where it almost felt as though he was hyperventilating.

His nose guided him into the kitchen and he soon found himself face to face with heaps of cookies and a smiling Misty. In her hands she was holding a platter of particularly scrumptious looking ones, so Ash grabbed two, one for each hand. He was just about to shove the first one in his mouth before he reminded himself of a question he always had to ask before he ate something of Misty's. "Did you make these?"

Letting out a sweet giggle, Misty replied, "No," and pointed to the counter where a number of yellow Pillsbury wrappers lay. Mollified that what he was eat was sure to taste good, he placed a whole cookie in his mouth, only chewing a few times before taking a bite out of the second one. Ash savored the sweet taste before he had a thought that made him pause mid-chew. He and Misty were fighting and she made him cookies? There was no scenario in his mind in which that made sense and he immediately went on the defensive.

"Hey, Mist," Ash began cautiously, spitting out a few crumbs in the process, "why did you make cookies?"

Misty kept an unfaltering, sickly-sweet smile plastered on her face and said, "Well, I was wracking my brain all day, trying to come up with something that would keep you from being a dumbass when you're Battling and I couldn't come up with anything. I mean, no one's ever been able to stop you from being a dumbass in the past, so what made me think that I could handle such a daunting task?"

Since Ash couldn't speak, mouth still being filled with cookie, he sent an what turned out to be a very amusing glare Misty's way. She brushed it off and continued, "Then I started to think of who had always done the best job of that in the past and it hit me. Your mother."

Ash began to choke at that line on a small bit of cookie that he inhaled and Misty calmly patted his back a few times, carrying on with her story. "I have to say, she was none too pleased with the way that you've been treating your Pokémon, even though I stressed that it had been merely accidental, so she gave me the best trick she had."

It was at that point that Misty gestured to the mountains of cookies covering the kitchen. She then turned back to Ash. "Food. She explained to me that you've always been like a little Growlithe puppy: good instincts, loyal, playful, cognitively undeveloped, and always counted on to come running at the sound of a treat.

"So I decided to make an investment in all these cookies as a reward system in order to get you to evolve from the little puppy, Growlithe, into a majestic Arcanine," Misty said, petting Ash's unruly hair ironically. "If you do anything stupid, no more cookies—I'll donate them all. But, if you don't do anything stupid, you'll continue to get a cookie every day."

Ash had since put a few more cookies into his mouth and was still unable to speak without risking spewing partially chewed cookie all over the place. So, he settled for responding to Misty's speech by sticking his tongue out at her. Misty grimaced at the little bits of cookie and chocolate and sighed.

"But for now you're definitely still a Growlithe."

* * *

**A/N:** Hey, you! Yeah, you right there, come over and read this author's note. Okay, I know that this isn't my best writing ever, but I don't care. I'm using these little alphabet challenges to practice writing, because I realized that I'm not that great and I really need to practice. The only way to do that effectively is to publish what I write and get feedback. So, I know these aren't masterpieces, but I'm really just using them to work out my writing muscles. And I really need you to tell me what you think. Plus I think that alphabet challenges are a really great way to think creatively. I love reading a chapter that has a word that could go a really obvious direction but then the author does something completely unexpected with it.

Oh, and I'm just going to point this out now, because this really bothers me in stories. I am absolutely positive that Pikachu is a boy, so it's really hard for me to read a story in which he is written as a girl. I actually change the pronouns in my head to make it easier. However, I know that people feel the same way about Pikachu being a girl, so in little set of oneshots, I will make a very strong effort to leave out any gender-specific pronouns. So, if a certain sentence is awkward because of that, I'm sorry, but it is for the greater good.

Thank you so much for reading!


	2. Beard

Summary: B is for Beard. Look it up on Urban Dictionary.

Pairing: Pokéshipping; Ash/Misty. Slight HandymanShipping; Tracey/Daisy plus good ol' fashion Tracey-bashing. And sorry, but this story is anti-RocketShipping; James/Jessie. Nothing personal; this was just the only way to get this idea to work.

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I affiliated in any way with the Pokémon franchise. This story is merely for entertainment.

* * *

**Beard**

Misty was sitting behind the desk at the front of the Gym. Usually this was a job left for her sisters, but today Misty was the only one in and was left tending the entrance. Her sisters never minded because they would usually just read a magazine or do their nails—pretty much what they would be doing even if they weren't stuck minding the front desk. Misty, on the other hand, was always much more content with the menial duties of cleaning the pool and feeding the Pokémon because she preferred to be up and moving. The best she could do here was busying herself with leg lifts under her desk and putting her signature on the mountains of paperwork in front of her.

Misty sighed, and dropped her pen, taking a moment to shake out her right hand. She must have scribbled her name a thousand times at this point, and she was beginning to develop a cramp in the muscles in her hand. It was starting to make it very hard to even make the few loops that she passed off as a signature.

Misty's mind was overcome with internal debate. Even though she knew that someone always had to be at the front desk, she felt like she would go crazy if she had to sit there another minute. She had already thought of a million reasons to get up, but she shot every one of them down with the reminder that she had the self-control to stay seated. If a challenger came in and she wasn't seated at the front, they would likely just leave, assuming she wasn't available for battle. But the swivel chair she was perched on was beginning to itch on the back of her thighs and she reasoned that maybe it would be okay to just leave for a moment to switch into some pants. She had just talked herself into it and was moving to stand up when she heard the sound of a bell tinkling. Misty smiled. A challenger was here—that was definitely a good enough reason to finally get up.

The person that entered, though, wasn't the typical bright-eyed and bushy-tailed little ten-year-old. Even though Misty had already stood, she had to look up in order to meet the gaze of what was clearly not a boy, but a man, in front of her. She looked at his bright blue, almost periwinkle, hair and cocked her head in confusion. That hair certainly looked familiar…

Then she gasped, hand flying to her mouth. "James?"

"Hello, Misty," James said. He was looking down at the floor and rubbing the back of his neck nervously, subtly shuffling his feet on the blue tile.

Years of habit put Misty immediately on the offensive. Sure, Misty knew that Team Rocket had disbanded long ago, but she didn't know what to expect out of one of the people that had terrorized her childhood. Or at least had tried to. "What do you want?"

The shuffling continued, and James still refused to make eye contact. "Uh, I was wondering if, uh…" he stuttered, trailing off weakly.

"Spit it out," Misty said, rolling her eyes at the man in front of her.

At Misty's harsh tone, James stood up straighter, no longer looking at the floor, but still avoiding contact with her. "Right, erm, I wanted to know if you could, uh, do me a favor," he stammered.

Misty narrowed her eyes at him. "What kind of favor?"

"I was wondering if you could go out with me—"

"What‽" Misty shrieked, her eyebrows raising up so high in shock they were practically in her hair. "Why the he—"

"No, no, no!" James rushed out, putting his hands out in front of him as if to protect himself from the fiery redhead. "That's not what I meant to say! I was wondering if you would _pretend_ to go out with me."

Misty relaxed, her heart rate returning to normal. "Oh thank Mew. You really scared the sh—" she suddenly stopped short, her brows furrowing in confusion again. "Wait, I thought that you were gay"

"I _am_. But nobody knows and I'm not ready for them to," James said, his face turning red.

Misty put her hand over her mouth to cover a snort. "Sure, nobody knows."

"Exactly," James said, not catching Misty's sarcasm. "That's why I need for you to go out with me."

"Hold on," Misty said, deciding to humor James. She would ponder the hilarity of the situation later when she was bored with paperwork again. "So you're saying you want me to be your beard?"

James shrugged his shoulders and looked at Misty desperately. "Well, yeah, I guess."

Misty arched an eyebrow at James. "So what's in it for me?"

"Simple," James said, looking confident for the first time in the entire encounter. "No one finds out that I'm gay and no one finds out about your crush on Ash."

Misty's eyes widened and her spine went perfectly erect. She thrust her hand out. "Deal."

* * *

Misty and James had been masquerading as a couple for almost a month and to say that it surprised everyone was an understatement. Misty's sister's in particular nearly threw a fit over the fact that they hadn't gotten he chance to set Misty up with a boy before she found one herself. Misty decided to forget about the little comment that they made about how they hadn't expected there to be any hurry.

The experience honestly hadn't been as horrific as she had thought it would be. Her 'dates' with James had actually been pretty fun, and she got a few free dinners out of it. Even though they weren't actually dating, he always offered to pay, since the whole thing had been his idea. He liked to call it an investment.

Even though Misty felt bad about lying to everyone, she couldn't help but be pleased with the outcome. She was always worried about Ash finding out about her little crush on him and now that she was pretending to be with James, it was a complete non-issue. She felt so much more relaxed whenever she spoke of him. It no longer sounded like she was pining pathetically after a childhood crush, but just talking about an old friend.

Then there was Ash himself. He had called her as soon as he found out, having to hear from her to make sure that it was actually true. She confirmed it and the incredulity on his face was wild. "Really?" he asked. "James? No offense, but he doesn't really seem like your type."

Luckily, at that point, Misty had been lying about her relationship for a while, so it wasn't as hard to lie to her best friend as she had been afraid it might. "Yeah, I didn't think so either, but when he's away from Jessie, he's actually really sweet."

Ash narrowed his eyes at her from across the video phone. "Okay," he said slowly, searching her face for any hints of a lie. Not seeing any, he let it be. "Then I wish nothing but the best for you two." With that, he hung up.

Misty couldn't help the slight sting that she felt at Ash's indifference to her having a boyfriend. Especially with him being one of Ash's old enemies. She tossed that aside and figured that she could only really expect a response from Ash if she dated Gary. She shivered at the idea.

Misty retold this encounter to James the next time they had dinner together and couldn't help it when another shudder went down her spine. "Ooh," she said, recovering from the sensation. "I guess that means that I'm not ever supposed to be with Gary."

"I finally got up the courage to tell Jessie that I'm gay," James blurted out.

"What?" Misty asked, confused at James' sudden conversational diversion.

James repeated himself, adding, "She's the closest person in the world to me; I figured I should tell her first."

"Wow," Misty said, truly surprised at James' courage. "What did she say?"

"She laughed at me," James said bluntly, a bashful smile on his face. "She told me that I was an idiot and everyone already knew."

Misty smiled. "Well, she's kind of right."

James nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah. She pointed out that you obviously knew the whole time, and since I didn't tell you, I didn't need to tell anyone else for them to already know."

A thought occurred to Misty. "So does that mean that we're 'breaking up'?"

James chuckled. "I guess so."

Misty smiled along for a moment, but then her face immediately fell to a frown. "Wait, but what about you being my, er, 'Ash beard'?" she asked.

James continued laughing, but this time it was directed at her. "Open your eyes, honey," James said. "You think everyone knows about _me_?"

Since they had already paid for their meal, James threw down a few more bills as a tip and left Misty with her thoughts. She sat there for a minute, stewing over his words before she exclaimed. "Everyone knows about me?"

A waiter gave her the evil eye and Misty hunched in her seat, cheeks turning red.

"Oops."

* * *

Misty returned to the Gym all very confused. She had tried so hard for so long to keep her feelings for Ash a secret. She could have sworn that the only people that knew were Brock, because she told him late one night when she was feeling particularly lonely, and James. The idea that everyone already knew terrified her.

When she walked into the Gym, Daisy, who had been sitting at the front desk, immediately ambushed her.

"Oh, little sister, what's wrong? I can, like, see it all over your face. Did something happen? It was that James boy, wasn't it? Was he pressuring you? Not that he really looked like he had it in him…Gosh, I always told you not to date someone older than you!"

"Whoa," Misty exclaimed, pushing her smothering sister off of her. "It doesn't have anything to do with James." Misty paused, reconsidering that statement. "Well, I guess it kind of has to do with him. We're not going out anymore."

Daisy gasped, overly-dramatic shock covering her face. "Oh, no. Come here." Daisy immediately pulled Misty back in and started hugging her and smoothing her hair, murmuring about how it was going to be alright.

"We were never really going out!" Misty practically shouted, again pushing herself away from her older sister's embrace. "He's gay!"

"Oh thank Mew," Daisy said, wiping her brow in phony relief. "That boy seemed queerer than an Onix in the swimming pool."

"Like you can say anything," Misty jested. "You're dating Tracey."

Daisy looked like she had swallowed a bug. She then shook her head, as if trying to knock the thought out of her mind. "Anyway, I actually was waiting for you to get home—you have a visitor."

Misty turned her head in confusion. A visitor? Suddenly her eyes met those of a certain disheveled looking Pokémon Trainer. "Ash?" Misty squeaked out.

Ash approached her. "You were never really dating James?"

"What are you doing here?" Misty asked, ignoring his question.

"Uh," Ash started slowly, "I guess I didn't really think about it. After we talked on the phone I just found myself Flying here."

"Really?" Misty asked shyly. "Why?"

By that point, Daisy had disappeared from the lobby, leaving Ash and Misty alone and slowly approaching each other.

Ash was playing with the hem of his fingerless gloves, focusing on anything other than Misty's face. "I don't know. I guess I just didn't really like the idea of you getting a boyfriend without me knowing."

"So you just impulsively decided to drop everything and come see me?" Misty asked, trying to piece together Ash's fragmented story.

"Is that weird?"

Misty smiled at the boy in front of her. At this point, there was only about a food between the two of them, so Misty reached out to take Ash's hands in hers. "It depends. Were you coming here because you were mad at me for not telling you, or because you were jealous?"

All of a sudden, Ash couldn't look at anything except for Misty's hands in his. He stared at them for a while without saying anything. Finally he mumbled, "Maybe some of both."

A grin started growing on Misty's face. "And why were you jealous?"

Ash sighed. "I didn't want you to be dating anyone," he admitted.

Misty was all out beaming at this point. "Why was that?"

Ash was about to answer, but then her frowned, looking at Misty. "Hey, why are you asking all the questions? How about this: why did you pretend to date James?" Ash wrinkled his nose as he said James' name, making no effort to hide his disgust.

"Uh…er…" Now it was Misty's turn to stammer. She couldn't tell him the truth, could she? That had been the whole point of this ordeal in the first place. _Everyone knows about me_. Misty's eyes widened. She didn't have anything to hide. She was as out as James was. "I pretended to go out with James because he didn't want anyone to know he was gay and…"

Ash raised his eyebrows at Misty, encouraging her on.

She took a deep breath in and looked Ash in the eyes, still holding onto his hands. "And…uh…I-didn't-want-anyone-to-know-that-I-liked-you-but-it-turned-out-everyone-but-you-already-knew," she rushed out all at once. She nervously searched his chocolaty gaze, looking for a sign of any emotion whatsoever. "Ash?"

Her fears were assuaged as she suddenly felt Ash give her a small peck on the lips, grinning as he pulled back. "I knew too."

Misty's jaw dropped. "You knew?" she gasped.

"Brock told me."

Misty dropped Ash's hands like they were scorching her and immediately balled them into fists. Ash leapt back, making sure that he wouldn't accidentally get hit. Misty started stomping to the video phone, each step practically making the walls shake. Upon reaching it, she started pounding the familiar numbers, his face appearing only a few moments later. Ash was crouched beside the desk, fingers in his ears for what was sure to come next.

"YOU BASTARD!"

* * *

**A/N**: I have to start by saying that I didn't edit this at all. I didn't even read through the whole thing once to make sure it was continuous. Perhaps I'll look over it tomorrow. So please leave reviews showing me the glaring mistakes that I'm sure are in here! In all honesty, I didn't even plan this story out. I got the word 'beard' and an idea started to take shape. I just let the dialogue do it's thing, so I'm not sure at all that this is a good story. I hope if nothing else the idea alone was amusing to you!


	3. Curse

Summary: C is for Curse. This story didn't exactly end up super explicitly working with the word, but ah well. Basically, the curse is the the Red or Blue Orb bonding with a living creature in this story.

Spoilers: This chapter doesn't have any specific spoilers, but it is kind of related to episodes _Gaining Groudon_ and _The Scuffle of Legends_. In an AU sort of way.

Pairing: Pokéshipping; Ash/Misty.

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I affiliated in any way with the Pokémon franchise. This story is merely for entertainment.

* * *

**Curse**

Never had there been so much rain in the Hoenn region. The storm had come on the region rapidly, so quick that not even Pokémon had sensed it coming, much less Doppler radar. Everyone was under advisory to find shelter and not dare wander outside, lest they be swept away by the torrential flooding.

Ash never had been good at following instructions.

He couldn't see anything. The rain was coming down in sheets, making the entire world gray and uneven, like a static-filled television screen. That was when he could even keep his eyes open. The wind was almost as bad as the rain itself, blowing water droplets sideways, directly into his eyes.

Pikachu wasn't fairing any better. Its fur was dripping almost as much as the clouds were, and it took every ounce of its strength to keep from being blown off of Ash's shoulder. Even with its heightened senses, it couldn't hear or see anything over the howling storm.

"Misty!" Ash called out, his voice immediately becoming lost in wind. He put his hand over his eyes in a vain attempt to see more than a foot in front of him, but couldn't see even a flash of Misty's red hair. "Nothing," he said, shaking his head. "I see nothing."

It wasn't even a hyperbole. They were just lucky that every step Ash took forward they remained on land, never accidently stepping off the boardwalk and into the sea beside them. Realizing that that fact was probably entirely based on luck, Ash looked out into the direction that he guessed the ocean was in and gazed out. Suddenly, Ash saw a dark spot in the distance. He blinked rapidly, assuming that it was the rainwater pouring down his face making him see things. Then he looked again, and the dark spot had grown enormously.

"_Pikachupi_!"

Ash shot a confused look at Pikachu. "Pikachu, that's not Misty." He then turned back forward to find himself face to face with the biggest creature he'd ever seen. And at the top of the shadow Ash could barely make out a shimmer of red. Could it be?

"Misty!" he called out again, this time cupping his hands up towards the red speck and praying that the sound would make it up to her.

He heard no response and for a moment and figured that he must have been wrong. But then, all of a sudden, the rain stopped. Not everywhere, but like a pinpoint, right over him and Pikachu. The pinpoint then expanded gradually until it encompassed the shadow as well, removing its veil. There before Ash was Kyogre. And right there, perched on the top of its massive head, sat Misty.

With eyes glowing blue.

* * *

_Earlier…_

The instructions of the mission were clear. Enter the Team Aqua headquarters, free Kyogre, destroy the Red Orb, and leave quickly—all by any means necessary. Make sure not to get captured and not to touch the Red Orb with your bare skin for longer than necessary.

Ash and Misty had split up upon entering the compound. They figured that if they did so, they would cover more ground and could find Kyogre's holding room quicker.

Presently, Ash was standing flush against the wall, Pikachu on his shoulder, neither daring to even breathe as he slowly poked his head around the corner. Unfortunately at this point, he was deep into the Team Aqua complex, where many members were milling about. This hallway was a long, central one, so it was only a matter of time before some unsuspecting Team Aqua member turned the corner. He darted his eyes in both directions, quickly scanning for any Grunts wandering the hallway. The coast was clear. He let a breath out and moved stealthily through the corridor, trying to make good time while remaining undetected.

Then a Grunt came around. "Hey! You don't belong here!" the Grunt called out.

He began running toward Ash, reaching into the pocket of his baggy Team Aqua uniform, probably fumbling around for either a weapon or Pokémon. Ash didn't hesitate before beginning to sprint head on toward him. The Grunt, on the other hand, froze at this move, confusion showing starkly on his face as Ash quickly approached. Upon reaching him, Ash put his hands square on the Grunt's shoulders and vaulted straight up in the air. He came down with his heel directly on the Grunt's spine, knocking him to the floor with a sickening crunch.

Ash didn't even pause to look back, continuing his silent trek deeper into the base.

That had obviously been an entry-level Grunt. Even though Ash had been sneaking around the base for hours, it seemed as though this part of the base didn't yield much protection.  
He must not be even close to where Team Aqua was holding Kyogre and the Red Orb. It would be when the Grunts started putting up a fight that Ash would know that he was closing in on their destination. He just hoped that Misty was closer than he was.

Unfortunately, it was turning out to take more time than he had thought. Time that he didn't have to spare. Now that he had left a Grunt lying on the ground, he could definitely expect Team Aqua members to come looking for his head, guns blazing. So he upped the pace further, only leaving a few more Grunts in his wake. As predicted, the enemies began struggling more, putting up a little more of a fight, though ultimately still not offering any sort of a real challenge for Ash.

Then he saw it. A door slightly different than the rest. This one was made of heavy metal and looked reinforced to the extreme: perfect for the holding room of a dangerously powerful Legendary.

Now all he had to do was destroy the door. Ash released his Quilava, who immediately let out a small tongue of fire on the door. The first layer of metal began melting, caving a small hole into the door. Obviously the door was made in order to keep a Water Pokémon contained, and not fireproofed at all. When the fire finally burned all the way through and Ash was able to see a slight bit to the other side, the door swung open.

Ash's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. He wasn't expecting that. His body immediately snapped into the defensive, Pikachu arched its spine, and Quilava's Fire Attack immediately flickered out. There in front of him was definitely not a Grunt. This man's outfit was different from typical Grunt garb. He was still wearing the Team Aqua bandana, but his clothes were all black. And behind this man's hulking form Ash could barely make out the biggest cage that he'd ever seen and what looked like a few massive blue ribbons—Kyogre's tail.

"Archie," Ash growled.

"Took you long enough."

Archie's voice was deep and gravely, reverberating to Ash's very bones. Instead of backing down, Ash stood up straighter in a vain effort to match the man's tall, bulky frame. "What do you mean?" he asked, not letting the cryptic comment shake him up.

Archie let out a low rumble of a laugh a wide grin spreading on his face, revealing a few missing teeth. "Oh, just that your friend showed up quite a while ago."

With that, Archie shifted to the side, reaching for a remote and aiming it at a large screen hanging in the room. The screen flickered on revealing a black and white image of Misty gagged and tied to a chair, struggling with the knots keeping her down.

Menacing grin still on his face, Archie clicked the screen off and turned back to Ash. "So, if you don't want anything to happen to your little friend, I suggest that you don't do anything—"

Archie didn't even get to finish his warning before Ash punched him square in that taunting mouth, while simultaneously bringing his knee sharply into the man's gut. He stumbled back a pace, bent over and clutching his face. He threw Ash a murderous look and lunged at him, clearly intending to throw his considerable weight around. Ash planted himself and swept his elbow across Archie's face, hearing a crack when it came into contact with his nose. He threw one more punch to his jaw and when Archie seemed to be teetering on the edge of consciousness, he threw Pikachu a look and the mouse pounced, attaching itself to the man's front and let out an Electric Attack, leaving the man on the ground with a heavy _thud_.

Ash jumped over Archie's body and ran to the cage taking up the majority of the room and saw Kyogre sleeping soundly. Team Aqua had probably sedated it upon capture—who knew how long it had been out for. Ash gestured to Quilava to start working on the metal bars of the cage. Ash guessed that this room had to be one of the outside rooms in the complex. Kyogre would have had to have been dragged into this room from the ocean; if it had been taken in any sort of capturing device, it would still be in it. He scanned the room for any sort of latch on the wall, possibly opening it to the outside world and saw nothing until his eyes stopped on an electronic code box, similar to the call boxes outside apartments.

Knowing that he wouldn't be able to figure out the code, Ash would have to try another method to get the box to work. He looked over to Quilava who was still trying to melt the bars, but was making no progress. Apparently Team Aqua had reinforced the cage more than they had the door. Ash called Quilava off of the bars and brought it over to the code box. He picked it up and held it at face level to the box. Knowing just what to do, Quilava released a small breath of flame on the face of the box, just enough to melt the keys off, but not enough to scorch the wires just behind. Recalling Quilava back to its 'Ball, Ash then ordered Pikachu to give a light shock to box. He hoped that the jolt would mimic the electronic response of imputing the right password.

A soft click came from the other side of the room. Ash and Pikachu turned to look as the far wall started rising to the ceiling like a garage door.

But then Ash saw something that he hadn't noticed before. Kyogre was awake. A few stray sparks of electricity were crackling along its body and it was thrashing weakly in the water in its enclosure. Immediately, Ash turned to glare at Pikachu, who threw Ash a timid look that said, "Whoops."

Ash shook his head. It didn't matter. Kyogre was freed and if it was awake, that meant that it wouldn't get recaptured. Mission accomplished.

Now to find Misty.

* * *

Ash stared into Misty's glowing, soulless eyes, dread mounting within him. A familiar pattern was pulsing ice blue on Misty's skin like sinister blood coursing through her veins.

"Misty?"

She made no sign that she recognized that he had spoken to her. She just stared at him, unblinking. Suddenly, her eyes became even brighter and the red lines on Kyogre's body glowed in tandem. Kyogre reared back and fired a rapid stream of water at the boardwalk, causing Ash to fly backwards. Ash shielded his eyes as splinters of wood bombarded him like shrapnel, only to be washed away by the heavy rain.

"Misty, stop it!"

His words went unheard as Kyogre fired another blast of water in his direction, tossing him and Pikachu into the water. Pikachu's cheeks sparked and before Ash could stop it, Pikachu released a Thunderbolt at the rampaging Legendary. Ash screamed as the electric current shocked his soaked body. He looked up when he heard the same scream coming from above him. Misty and Kyogre both writhed in pain as the strong Electric Attack pulsed through their bodies, strengthened by the conductive water.

It pained Ash to see Misty in such pain, but he had to swallow it when he saw the expression that followed. Misty gritted her teeth and turned a look of total rage towards him. Kyogre then used Mudslide, enough that Ash and Pikachu found themselves no longer treading water, but sitting in a mound of mud, ensuring that Pikachu couldn't use any more Electric Attacks.

At that moment, Archie came rushing out of the compound with a number of Team Aqua members behind him, a black eye already formed on his face. "You!" he yelled, anger radiating from his face. "You jackass!"

Ash whipped his head around from Misty to Archie, muttering, "Oh, no," under his breath.

Archie held an enlarged PokéBall in his hand and threw it in Ash's direction. "Go, Mightyena!"

Ash looked at Pikachu who was slopping mud off of his electric sacks. That wouldn't work. He reached to his 'Belt for a fresh Pokémon. "Go, Noctowl!"

Noctowl burst from the PokéBall with a shimmer of light and was instantly blown down with the wind. Regaining its flight, Noctowl flew towards the Mightyena and unleashed a Psybeam on the Dark Type Pokémon.

Ash trusted the Psychic Type to be able to keep the already fading Mightyena and whatever other Pokémon Archie called on at bay. Now he had to turn his attention to the other Aqua members. They were surrounding Kyogre and Misty and were holding a number of PokéBalls in and weapons in their hands. He looked between Misty and the Grunts, at a loss of what to do. He had to think quickly, but there were probably a dozen Grunts in front of him and they were going to do something that would assuredly hurt Misty any second.

Ash shot Pikachu a hesitant look, saying, "It's our best shot."

Pikachu launched itself off of Ash's shoulder and high up into the air. When it was at the peak of its ascent, it curled into a ball before spreading its limbs wide and with a cry released a strong Thunder Attack in the direction of the Grunts and Kyogre.

Ash covered his face, trying to make sure that no stray bolts were carried in the rain and electrocuted him another time today.

The Grunts all cried out in pain and looked at Ash and Pikachu with terror before racing back into the base. Now that that was over, Ash turned his attention back to Archie and Noctowl. Three fainted Pokémon were lying in front of Archie and he was looking nervous. At the sight of all his subordinates rushing back into the base, Archie quickly recalled his Pokémon and ran after them.

Kyogre, however was still roaring in pain from the super-effective Attack. It was thrashing wildly, and Misty, unable to consciously hold on, was tossed off into the ocean. Ash watched in horror as the crazed Kyogre swung its enormous flippers through the water, dangerously close to where Misty had fallen. In just a few moments, Kyogre smashed right into Misty, tossing her body brokenly onto the boardwalk.

Misty's body shuddered, the blue pattern pulsing irregularly as she convulsed. Ash immediately scrambled out of the thick mud that he was caught in and crawled up on the boardwalk beside her, the rain cleaning the grime off of him in a matter of seconds. He looked at her body, still twitching and his heart sunk. He didn't know what to do.

"Misty…" he whispered, leaning close to her. Pikachu hopped up beside them and threw Ash a questioning look. Ash shook his head. "No, Pikachu, you can't shock Misty out of it."

Instead, Ash leaned into Misty, holding her limp body in and looked at her sadly. He couldn't help it but to lean in and kiss her softly.

Misty twitched again and Ash pulled back. But the sight in front of him surprised him. Misty's eyes were open, but they weren't glowing anymore and the blue lines on her body were pulsing slower and slower. Suddenly Misty let out a cry of pain as the glowing pattern flowed from her extremities and to her middle, forming a small circle before expelling from her chest in the Red Orb. Immediately, the storm died down to a light drizzle with no wind to speak of and the orb hovered in the air above Ash and Misty's heads.

Misty fell limp in Ash's arms and Ash looked from her to Pikachu. "Destroy it," he said softly.

Nodding, Pikachu released a concentrated current of electricity to the center of the Red Orb. It glowed bright white for a moment before exploding, shattering into millions of sparkling shards. The pieces fell to the ground, all around Ash and Misty like a rain of sparkles. Misty's eyes blinked open and she looked around, a look of awe in her eyes. She took in the beautiful sight and then looked at Ash, who was still holding her.

"What happened?" Misty asked.

"We did it," Ash answered simply.

With that Kyogre dove deep in to the sea, washing a small wave onto the destroyed boardwalk. The broken planks shuddered with the force of the wave, creaking beneath Ash and Misty. They threw each other a concerned look and Ash stood up, helping a fatigued Misty to her feet. They carefully walked down the boardwalk, hand in hand as the storm died completely and a rainbow formed over their heads.

MISSION COMPLETED.

* * *

**A/N: **This story didn't turn out how I intended at all. I had wanted it to be a dark fic, (that's why there's hand to hand combat and such) and I had wanted it to be really long. It is neither of those things. I'm not sure how much I like this, but it's taken me weeks to write and it's about time that I put up the next chapter, even if it's completely different from my usual writing. Please give me your feedback on this chapter, because it's kind of weird for me. I don't think it's awful, but...I don't know. PS, I just finished writing this literally 2 minutes ago and I didn't even read over it as a whole, so I have no idea how it reads.

Oh, also I gave myself a list of challenges that I want accomplished, preferably in this story, but maybe in others too. It's on my profile and so far only has 3 items. If you have any other ideas, please tell me!


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